The first retail sportsbook bearing the ESPN Bet name opened Wednesday at Penn Entertainment’s Hollywood Casino at Greektown in downtown Detroit. Hollywood Casino at Greektown in Detroit. The first ESPN Bet sportsbook opened there on April 24. (Image: Penn Entertainment) Penn has been using the ESPN brand on its mobile sports wagering platform since last November after inking a 10-year, $1.5 billion deal with Walt Disney last August. Michigan is one of the 18 states in which ESPN Bet is available. The ESPN BET sportsbook and restaurant offers guests approximately 4,500 square-feet of betting ..read more

He threatened legal action, and now he’s taking it. James Trees, the owner of Esther’s Kitchen in Las Vegas and a 2020 James Beard Award nominee, found a lawyer friend to take his case. (Image: KNPR) James Trees, the chef-owner of Esther’s Kitchen, has filed a class-action suit against Uber Eats, along with three other Las Vegas restaurants. The suit claims the website and app allow scammer food-preparers “to use false identities that co-opted known restaurants brands and identities … to siphon business for themselves using the goodwill created by the actual business owners.” How can you allo ..read more

The government in Malaysia has quickly fired back on a report from Bloomberg suggesting the Southeast Asia nation is considering allowing a casino resort to be built near Singapore. Forest City in Malaysia. The Malaysian government is denying reports that it’s considering authorizing a second casino in the country in the southern end near Singapore. (Image: The Malaysian Reserve) Bloomberg reported yesterday that Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim met last week with two of his country’s richest people — Genting Group casino billionaire Lim Kok Thay and lottery billionaire magnate Vincent Ta ..read more

The Petersburg City Council on Wednesday evening chose The Cordish Companies as its preferred casino developer. Before ground can be broken on the Baltimore-based Live! casino operator’s proposed project, local voters must first authorize its creation through a citywide ballot referendum this fall. Petersburg residents attend a town hall on April 14 to hear about the Virginia city’s proposed casino developments. The Petersburg City Council on April 24 voted unanimously to go with Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia, a scheme from Baltimore-based Cordish Companies. (Image: CBS6 News Richmond) The ..read more

Shares of Churchill Downs (NASDAQ: CHDN) jumped 3.74% in after-hours trading Wednesday after the gaming company reported record first-quarter sales and earnings that topped Wall Street estimates. Churchill Downs’ new Terre Haute Casino Resort. New venues are boosting the company’s results. (Image: Tribune-Star) The operator of the famed Kentucky racetrack of the same name said it earned $1.08 a share on revenue of $590.9 million in the first three months of the year. Analysts expected earnings of 76 cents on sales of $564 million. Churchill’s Kentucky historical horse racing segment drove a to ..read more

Entering this year, it was widely expected that the Federal Reserve would pare interest rates from 20-year highs, potentially unleashing a wave of mergers and acquisitions activity in the casino gaming industry, but that scenario hasn’t materialized. The Las Vegas Strip. High interest rates are weighing on gaming industry mergers and acquisitions activity, says an analyst. (Image: Las Vegas Sun) Following a string of stubbornly high readings of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to start 2024, expectations that the Fed could lower rates anywhere from three to six times this year are all but erased ..read more

Clark County has approved a permit filed by Bally’s Corp. to implode the historic Tropicana Las Vegas. The Rhode Island-based company has until Oct. 20 to drop the Trop. The Boardwalk Hotel & Casino meets its maker on May 9, 2006. Las Vegas has a long history of staging implosions as public spectacles. (Image: Associated Press) The approval was granted on April 20, nine days after the permit was filed, but still requires a payment of $48,000 in application fees to activate, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. According to the application, the implosion will cost Bally’s $15 million ..read more

Shares of Penn Entertainment (NASDAQ: PENN) jumped 2.41% today on volume that was 55.7% above the daily average after David Einhorn disclosed that his Greenlight Capital took a “medium sized” stake in the regional casino operator in the first quarter. Greenlight Capital founder David Einhorn at the World Series of Poker. His hedge announced a new stake in Penn Entertainment. (Image: Institutional Investor) In a letter to the hedge fund’s clients, Einhorn said Greenlight established a position in Penn at an average price of $22.69 — well above the stock’s closing price of $17.84. The shares are ..read more

Online gaming software giant Evolution AB will have to wait to discover the identity of the author of a report that it claims was defamatory and wiped $3 billion off its market cap. Judge John C Porto, above, has determined that the veracity of the Evolution report – or lack of — must be better established before its author can be revealed in order to protect the attorney-client relationship. (Image: POAC) Evolution is suing the unknown entity for libel, along with the unknown investigative firm that compiled the report, and Calcagni & Kanefsky (C&K). That’s the New Jersey law firm tha ..read more

Australian casino giant Crown Resorts has been deemed suitable to continue possessing a gaming license in New South Wales (NSW) after the embattled organization underwent a corporate overhaul in recent years. Crown Sydney has been found suitable to continue holding a casino license in New South Wales. The regulatory inquiry outcome is a major win for Crown Resorts, which last month received a similar suitability finding in Victoria for Crown Melbourne. (Image: Crown Resorts) On Tuesday, gaming regulators in NSW said Crown’s governance revamp has brought the organization into regulatory complia ..read more